A Not So Little Fish
by Literature work
Summary: The King's first son was killed at sea by a merpeople attack and he is furious. He orders all of the ships in the harbor to hunt the creatures and find the ones that murdered his son. Is the King really after a murderer and is it the right one? Prince Alphonse struggles to bring peace to the kingdom in his father's absence as Amestris starts to fall apart. Mermaid AU. PleaseReview!
1. Surface Bound

_Author's note: Alright this was just an idea I came up with a while ago. It is actually an idea that I had (though slightly modified) for an actual novel that I want to write. I just didn't know how to do it. I didn't really know how to write it so I am practicing by turning it into a FMA AU fic so that I could practice writing about mermaids. It is quite different from the novel that I wanted to write but not by much. This is just practice so I am kind of experimenting with it and trying to figure out where my novel will want to go exactly even though I have the basic plot line down. Please review! I would like any suggestions to writing he plot of my book as I can get (though I dont think it will ever be published)_

 _ **A Not So Little Fish**_

Chapter One

Surface Bound

It didn't used to be like this, Roy sighed as he hauled his duffle bag higher on his shoulders and walked down through the busy docks. Fishermen swarmed the place with cages and new catches ready to set sail to bring in more and more by the king's order. Instead of fishing traps and lines, the docks used to be brewing with trade and merchants. Instead of blood of the catch, the docks used to be soaked with gold. Amestris wasn't always like this, and neither was Roy. Roy used to work for the Royal navy. He used to be a high standing Colonel before the King's son died. They used to protect the waters from pirates, from invaders, but now they dropped their cannons and were armed with fishing lines when the navy was disbanded. They were now on the hunt for merpeople.

When the navy started to disperse, Roy feared the day when his unit would be disbanded. Many soldiers were sent out of the Royal Guard to the streets with no job, no food, and no pride left to work with. More and more soldiers had to fight to jobs on the harbor or in nearby towns in fear of being counted with the starving bums lying around on the street. They used to be prideful people who protected the nation and their king but now the country has changed and instead of navymen they need fishermen. And the time soon came that Roy's fears had become a reality; his unit was disbanded.

Roy had to pick up a job on one of the fishing ships. He was going to be checking the cages they dropped in the water for merfolk instead of patrolling the waters he vowed to protect when he was sworn in as his crew's commanding officer. Yet the people of Amestris imagined the merpeople as the enemy under the waters, so in a sense Roy was still keeping his vows but unfortunately it was in a new nature. He didn't like fighting this senseless battle as he would have rather been shoving pirates off their ports and blasting Drachmans back to the icebergs where they came from. There was no victory from fishing fore merfolk aside from having clear waters to sail in and even then your boat could be topsided by a rather unforgiving wave.

Roy boarded the large ship which was once his own but now was suited for hauling traps. He was pushed and shoved by the crowded crew as they brought on supplies and tanks for their catches to be stored in. It was a rather messy deal and Roy didn't like the disorganised manner of it. Orders were being shouted out from everywhere instead of just one and it was hard to listen to all voices at once. Suddenly Roy felt a rough shove from behind him and he stumbled forward nearly dropping his bag.

"Either move or get run over," he heard a harsh voice scold him. He looked up to see a blonde haired woman behind him, carrying coils of rope over her shoulder and a harpoon in her hand. It looked rather sharp and the glare in the woman's eye made her seem like she was rather keen in running him through with it.

"Okay, okay," he muttered as he took a few steps back from her. She raised her eyebrows curiously as if she was watching an ant scurrying around. Her eyes seemed to go right through him and Roy felt very uncomfortable. However, suddenly they seemed to soften and the dirty greasy woman before him gave a rough smile.

"You're from the navy aren't you?" She asked. Roy nodded his head and she smirked. "I just heard the last unit got disbanded. You were in it?"

"Yes, Colonel Roy Mustang, I was the commander-"

"Yeah but not anymore sir," she interrupted him. "You aren't commander of anything but that rope over there. I heard you were our new hauler."

"That's correct," Roy grumbled as he felt himself sink even lower into the depths of society. He lost his rank, his power, and his paycheck. If he lost anymore he would be a bum on the street.

"Don't worry sir, you will get the hang of it. It took me a while to get used to the difference as well," she said.

"And you are?"

"Lieutenant Riza Hawkeye, my unit was disbanded two years ago, but now I am the wrangler. I make sure that our catch doesn't bite." Roy looked at the harpoon again and realised what it was for now. If merpeople really were so dangerous that they needed to be using that thing, Roy was debating whether or not to take his chances with finding a job on land.

"Are merpeople really that vicious?" Roy asked her as she started to walk across the deck to store her things. She seemed to falter with his question as she looked up at him.

"Do you mean you never saw one before, sir?" She asked.

"No, the waters for my fleet were all clear except for pirates and Drachmans. They were our concern-"

"Well, they aren't either of those," Riza cut him off. "We don't really know what they are aside from being half fish. This isn't war, it's just a job. We don't take sides, we just work." Roy frowned as she didn't answer his question at all. There was a look in her eye that he didn't quite catch and he didn't feel like understanding. There seemed to be a dread about the entire ship that he never noticed coming in.

He knew that this wasn't war, though some people forgot that. It was the mermaids who killed the King's son right before his coronation. There weren't many people in the nation who had hated the royal family so all collectively they wanted to see their murderers brought to justice whether it be through court or through a fishing hook. This wasn't war, it was just a job the king had set the country out to do and everyone supported him like it was his new campaign. There wasn't any real side to it.

Suddenly he heard a shout from above him and he looked up to see the captain beaming down at him with a rather superficial grin from the quarter deck. Hawkeye busied herself as she walked off to haul more supplies on deck, without much of a backwards glance to him.

"Ahh, Mr. Mustang, I didn't think you would show up," the stiff voice of the captain growled at him. Roy looked up towards the stern to see the old grey haired man grinning at him. He looked rather to be a businessman, which Roy knew that he once was as he used to be the General of the Naval fleet, but he had now hardened over the years with his early dismissal and General Raven now was just the Captain.

"Well it is either show up to this dung heap or not eat," Roy muttered under his breath so that the Captain couldn't hear. The man stumbled down the steps from the quarterdeck and over to him, the men of the crew dodging him as they hefted long coils of rope over their blistered and calloused hands. They were quite an ugly crew from what he saw and very few of them looked rather inviting other than the former Lieutenant.

"Well, Mustang, I could see that you are a bit new to how we work here, being the last ship since the incident to be disbanded you are probably still used to the order of the navy," the man started, hitting Roy's feelings right on the nose. "But you will get used to it. Just don't get in anyone's way and you will be fine. All you are doing is going to be pulling the cages up to the deck. The man that you replaced got his hands caught in the rope and… well…. Let's just not do that."

"Yes sir, I know what to do," Roy said, his gut dropping as he realised that the person who had his job was either dead or brutally injured. What a story to start off your voyage. Raven smiled superficially and patted him on the back roughly.

"You got this then. Let's just hope for a smooth sailing and a good catch. Just as a warning, those merfolk, when they hit the deck they will be fighting. Do not get in the way. My men know how to take care of them."

"Sir, are they really that aggressive?" Roy asked him, having his question be disregarded by Riza. The man frowned and solemnly nodded his head.

"Yes. They are now just like they were before. You know, I was on that ship when one of those bastards drowned the Prince," the man told him, a deadly look in his eye. "They are faster than cannons, almost like bullets coming out of the water. They jumped out of the water and pulled over half of the men overboard drowning them if they didn't skewer them first with their coral spears. It was a bloodfest, the worse I seen. But when the King set out that order for the merpeople, I can tell you seeing that was all the fuel I need to take them down. You do not want to be the ones who corner a merperson, but it is better than being the ones cornered." Roy felt even weaker than before. He could just picture the fins of merpeople jumping out of the water like vicious sharks, latching on and taking their victims under. Roy felt like Riza was right. He couldn't compare them to any Drachman or pirate. He couldn't compare them to anything.

"Don't worry, Mustang," Raven chuckled, his aura changing rapidly. "We got them beasts on the run. Once we catch the bastards it is all smooth sailing. Now you should probably go below deck. We don't need half of the crew until it's time to haul in the cage but then it gets chaotic. Try to stay out of trouble because I promise trouble won't stay away from you."

…..

Alphonse sprinted through the halls of the castle apologising to the many housekeepers he ran into on his way. He was making his way to the war room where he knew his father was. The King spent most of his time in there even though Amestris wasn't in any direct war against any of their neighboring countries. However, Alphonse feared that they might be soon. The King was having a meeting with the Generals all of whom were sitting on the edge of their seats like everyone else in the kingdom wondering what the King's next move was. Alphonse knew that he needed to be there. Though he was no General, though he was no King, he was a prince, the 2nd of the King's family yet the heir to the throne. He at least wanted to try and stop his father from the mistake he knew was about to happen; the disbanding of the last naval unit.

As he rounded the last corner he saw a couple of their guards closing the large oak doors to the war room and he hollered out to them to stop. They faltered a minute as they watched the Prince of all people jet down the hallway towards them. Before they could say anything against him, Alphonse squeezed through the crack in the door and gave a small apology to the guards that he had passed. He stumbled into the room before the doors were locked behind him.

The room had a large round table in the center of it and maps hung around every wall. It was a rather intricate room that overlooked the harbor through large sunshine filled glass windows. Alphonse remembered playing in there when he was little, before he had any responsibilities as prince like schooling and lessons. He would often run around and spin the large delicate globe around that sat in the corner of the room until his father kicked him out for disturbing his studies.

A group of elderly men, including his father circled the table and were quietly discussing their next plans. It was quieter than Alphonse expected a war room to be but he guessed it was just because he never experienced one in the heighth of war.

"We need to focus on economic relief. We need to restore trade in the harbor or else our citizens would surely starve-"

"No, we need to recruit more people into our army. The soldiers up in Briggs have been needing new recruits in order to help defend our land borders. It would provide more jobs and opportunities to the poor."

"There were plenty of jobs before. If the homeless are too lazy to get jobs let them move to the country and become farmers. It is what this country needs more of, less fish more vegetables."

"No," the King said, a dull look in his eyes. Alphonse had never seen his father really smile before. He always seemed to have a frown on his face. He always seemed to be angry, but he was determined which he guessed was the sum of it. He was too young when his mother died to remember her and it was the same for his brother. He didn't know how it impacted his father because he never really knew him before the aftermaths of their deaths. But he could imagine him to be less angry, less revengeful, and more caring. He imagined him to actually have something resembling happiness shining in his golden eyes instead of just regret. "We need to disband the navy all together, put more people out into the sea. If we get more ships there can be more crews to provide jobs and fight those devils under the sea."

"Sir, there is only so much water that the ships can fish in. The boats are already fighting for their trapping grounds as it is," a General argued stating the obvious. With the disbanding of the navy unit over the course of the last few years. The fishing boats have just increased to compensate. The waters were sprung with cages set to catch fish or merpeople and there was barely room for anything else. People were fighting over who got to trap where as there wasn't enough room for all of the boats to work. Not only that but Alphonse had noticed that there was just too much fish being hauled in as a result. Over half of it wasn't eaten and the rotten piles of meat just left a stench in the city streets that you couldn't avoid. Even though there was only one more unit left in the Navy if they disbanded it there would just be more pressure than there already was.

"Might I have a word?" Alphonse said nervously as he walked a bit more into the room. Heads looked up at him curiously, a bit surprised that he was there at all. King Hohenheim turned around in utter shock to see him standing there. Hohenheim didn't like Alphonse partaking in any of the politics of the nation. In fact, he didn't like him taking his responsibilities at all. All Alphonse wanted to do was help his father run the nation and help it grow into a better place, one with less starvation, with more wealth and more strength. He wanted the nation to return to what it once was, the one he read about in the history books and heard about from the citizens, the nation Ametris was before his brother died, but his father wouldn't allow him even to take the reigns a little bit and he knew that stepping into a war room like this was something that was above and beyond a simple adolescent rebellion. His father looked furious at him for even thinking about entering the room, for even imagining to take part in the kingdom he would one day have to rule, but Alphonse wanted to try. He was 15 after all. He was to be coronated at age 16 like was tradition in the kingdom. If he didn't get used to the duties of a king he wouldnt be ready when the time came.

"If we restore the Royal Navy to its previous state, the sailors who are flooding the streets without jobs will be restored to their previous occupations. They will be earning a pay check and they will be contributing to the economy in the purchasing of goods. If we restore the navy, the ships can protect trade around Amestris's harbors and seas from Pirates and trade routes can be restored bringing in more merchants from outside the kingdom to boost the revenue that we collect. The Navy could also help protect us from the powers of Drachma. Though they have a weak navy and we have nothing to fear from them but their land soldiers, if we have a navy we would be able to attack them by land and by sea incase they plan to invade," Alphonse told them though the Generals were a little too dumbfounded to really pay attention to him. His father was still glaring at him as he listened to his proposal, hating it more and more because it went against his plans. However after a moment of digesting, the Generals found the suggestion quite appealing as they nodded their heads to it and discussed it a little further in hushed voices.

"Where did you learn all of this, young Prince?" One of them, General Edison, asked him finally after moments of critical thinking.

"I took several classes in economics from the tutors that Father gave me-"

"I don't think we saw you in here before. It is definitely a good notion you got there," another stated. Alphonse smiled weakly and nodded his head in acceptance to it however his father closed his eyes, a huff of aggravation quite evidently seeping out of him.

"We don't have anything to worry about in the sea from Drachma. The soldiers of the navy could help in the army, farm crops in land, or help the town. The sea isn't the only job they need to have. Disbanding the navy will give more sea to the fishermen to use and it will help defeat our merpeople infestation faster and get them out of the way making our waters safe," Hohenheim growled at him, posing his direct confliction to his solution.

"Father," Alphonse started again. "If we disband the last of the navy, there is nothing standing in the way of this country and sure destruction. Either economically or by outside forces." The Generals looked back and forth between each other and muttered back and forth trying to decide which of the royalty's opinions they liked better or was more practical. However his father didn't want any part of the discussion.

"Alphonse," the King finally stated after a long moment of silence. Alphonse perked up at the sound of his name and he felt himself holding his breath in fear of what he might say next. "Might I talk to you outside?" He asked, shooting an arrow through his hopes. The man got up and with a gentle yet firm hand lead his son outside of the war room, leaving the Generals to discuss the country's affairs by themselves. Alphonse felt a pit in his gut start to grow and he knew that he made a mistake for ever stepping foot in there. Not only did he disobey his father but he probably embarrassed him in front of all of the Generals.

"Dad-"

"Alphonse," Hohenheim sighed, the sound of his disappointment riding strong in his voice. Alphonse frowned as he looked up at him, their golden eyes meeting for what seemed like the first time in ages. "I am disbanding the navy for the betterment of the country, for the safety of the citizens. Once those dreaded creatures are out of the water we would be free from fearing the ocean we sail in. By sending more people out to hunt those blasted merpeople-"

"Dad, the merpeople haven't attacked a ship in over four years. We don't have nothing to fear but the stories that keep spreading around. I know that you are upset about what happened to brother but-"

"It wasn't an accident Alphonse, it was a direct attack on the royal family. I will not have it that creatures from the deep are attacking our family, our nation like this-"

"But dad this isn't the way to go about it-"

"Once the ocean is free, our navy ships can sail free, but until then, my son's killer needs to be found."

"Dad-"

"Alphonse!" Hohenheim argued cutting the boy's retort off before it even began. Alphonse frowned as he closed his mouth, the anger in his father's voice growing more than it ever did. "I don't want you interfering in my line of work. You obviously don't know anything yet about politics. I know what is best for the country-"

"Dad, I don't know because you will never let me try! I am 15 and soon I will be of age to accept the throne however you aren't letting me learn and try to become a king-"

"Alphonse, you won't need to be king until a long while-"

"A year dad-"

"You don't need to worry about this. You don't need to worry about any of this. I will take care of it-"

"No you won't dad. You are running this country on a grudge, you are running my life out of a grudge that you have against the creature that killed my brother. You are tearing everything apart. You don't even see the state the country is in because you are obsessed. You are more interested in catching that monster than helping me run a country. You won't let me do anything you let my brother do. You let him travel, see the world, and you won't even let me go down to the shore for a simple swim."

"You don't know what is out there Alphonse-"

"Because you wouldn't let me see it!"

"I am done with this conversation Alphonse. I am going back into that room and I will discuss the betterment of this country. I do not want you intervening ever again," the King ordered before he turned around to make his march back into the war room. Alphonse felt his face heat up in anger as he watched his dad turn his back on him yet again.

"If this is the country you are making I don't want to live in it," he muttered underneath his breath just loud enough for his father to hear. The king faltered at the door and looked like he was about to turn around but Alphonse was already storming off down through the hallways where he came from.

….

Edward searched the ocean floor mindfully as he swam along its bottom. While the other merfolk were gathering the seaweeds that they often collected, Edward was scanning the sea for the dreaded wired cages that they all so feared. He remembered a time where there was no cages to be afraid of. He remembered a time when there was only open waters and gentle currents to play in. But soon the metal traps started to appear, not just for fish, but for them as well. And as their abundance grew, the merfolk began disappearing. The humans were hunting. Edward didn't know why it started but he knew that the cages grew like wildfire. They would come crashing down from the surface with no care in the world where they landed. They would smash houses and fields that they would land in. The merpeople tribes were as small as it was and a cage like that could destroy their villages. Edward remembered moving their own village twice because of the huntings but no matter where they went the cages would surely follow. They caught fish, crab, manatees, dolphins, any type of sea life in their midst without care and even the unsuspecting Merfolk. The cages were hard to see in the depth of the ocean and many merpeople would swim into them not knowing before it was too late and they couldn't get back out. Sometimes foolish merfolk would challenge each other to go near a cage and end up getting caught inside just to be stuck there until the humans came to retrieve their haul. It wasn't until Edward started to investigate the traps by himself that they were able to relieve the waters of some of their tension.

Edward would cut the cages when he found one. Each cage was marked with a rope and a float that he humans would pull it up by. If he cut the ropes there was no way to retrieve the cages and then they could work on a way of freeing their captives. Edward swam the borders of their tribe's territory every day, cutting the new cages and checking the old to make sure no one got stuck in them. He was very careful in doing so because if a strong current picked up in the waters he knew that he could have been the next victim as well.

One thing that Edward was curious about was why the humans were hunting them at all. He knew them like all merfolk did, long ago in another time, and because of this he knew that humans were very strange creatures who didn't do anything without reason, may those reasons be good or bad. But hunting merpeople didn't seem reasonable at all to him. He didn't understand, none of them did, but they all dealt with it differently. Many of the merfolk in Edward's tribe and others grew angry at the humans for what they were doing and often tried to tip fishing boats over that were setting cages. Unfortunately that just brought two ships in its place with twice as many cages. Though still angry, the merpeople decided it was better to just avoid them all together. Edward however, was curious. He wanted to understand why. If he had a reason, maybe there was a solution, but he never got around to figuring it out. The humans were still a mystery to him. He knew that not all of them were bad, not from what he could remember, but now he just didn't know. As more and more of his friends disappeared around him he grew more desperate for answers, and he grew more scared that he might be the last one left. So he continued to cut the cages and hope that he could find the reasons the humans depended so much upon.

Edward neared the shoreline and he caught sight of the glimmer of metal at the bottom of the sea. It was a cage, new and just recently placed. The wiring on it was brand new and the sunlight that came in through the shallow waters sparkled off of it signaling its danger. Edward slowed down as he approached it and looked around through it. It was empty with only a few fish inside who were waiting for a way out. Edward felt a wave of relief wash through him as he swam up towards the rope. No one was in it. It was unlikely that anyone would have been caught in it since it was so close to the shore as well as the tribe's borders, but he still felt the fear build up inside of him whenever he had to check one. He didn't want to find someone stuck on the inside. He remembered the few incidences that he was too late. He caught a new trap with someone in it and he didn't have enough time to help them. They were already being pulled towards the surface, fear in their eyes and arms outstretched begging for help. He was nearly pulled to the surface once in his own attempt to help them, but he just didn't have enough time, he couldn't pull them free. Edward feared having to find someone in the cage. He never wanted to see the horrified look in their eyes ever again. Though merpeople carry the stories of their lives in their eyes and their tears, the fear they had when they were trapped in the cages was more of damnation than sorrow. They all knew that the end was coming. For whoever go lifted to the surface, they knew they were never coming back.

Edward swam halfway up the line and pulled out his sharpened coral knife from his seaweed belt. It would take some work but he knew that he could cut the marker free of the cage and have the sailors boating around blindly trying to find their traps. Just as he was about to cut the rope however he heard a sudden splashing coming from above him. It sounded familiar and yet so foreign at the same time. Edward glanced up to see the blurry black outline of the figure scuttling across the surface of the water one stroke at a time. It swam around the buoy that was anchored just a few feet away from the cage, marking the distance from the shoreline and the border of his tribe's territory. At first Edward thought it was a merperson. They used to swim near the shore and on the surface before the huntings began. It was fun to feel the air on their faces and splash their tails against the water but now they were too scared. None of them did that anymore. None of them even dared.

Edward, forgetting the rope, swam a little bit higher as he watched the figure. As it came into view he realised that it wasn't a merperson, but rather a human. Strange enough, as the merfolk stopped coming to the surface, the humans had stopped swimming in the open waters. Edward was rather shocked to see that a human had come this far out from the shore, deep enough for sea life to swim beneath them. He watched wide eyed and entranced as the person kicked their two legs and propelled themselves through the blue water of the sea. They stayed afloat and held onto the floating buoy for a spell before continuing again. Edward followed around below them, curious as to what they were doing. From his distance he determined that it was a man, a young man, from the muscles around the chest and the lack of other things. He didn't know what he looked like, he didn't know anything else because he didn't dare get too close. But aside from the ability to kick him in the face and scream bloody murder he knew that the human couldn't hurt him without the boats and cages. However, he also knew that it wasn't his own safety that he stayed away for. In his own fright, he didn't want to scare the human either. It was one of the first few he had seen swimming. And he rather enjoyed watching them. If he scared the person away and back to shore, he was afraid that they might never come back into the water.

As Edward stared up at the person, he caught another flicker of movement out of the corner of his eye. He saw the slim and sharp features of a rather thin shark circle around the area. Edward knew that sharks didn't eat humans but this one seemed mistaken. It circled around as if determining that the food it wanted to eat was worth it or not. It continued to circle, and Edward thought it would have realised that the human wasn't a fish by now but it got closer and closer to it, its mouth widening ever so slightly. Edward wanted the human to swim away but they didn't seem to think that there was anything in the water. As the predator went in for its final charge so did he.

Edward launched himself at the shark right as it was about to take hold of the human's leg and he tackled it away. Cool air hit his skin as he broke the surface of the water, the shark struggling in his arms to get away. Vicious teeth snapped as it tried to break free but Edward held on tight as he struggled with it. Their fight tore waves in the water's surface and turned the blue hue of it white as they tore about in it. Screams from the human's sudden surprise hit Edward's ears as the shark slammed him against the back of the buoy, knocking the breath out of him. Edward glanced over as he struggled to keep a hold of the small but angry shark. Why wasn't the human swimming away? As he was about to yell at him he suddenly froze as he caught sight of the human's face. It was contorted into pure fright, golden eyes almost hidden beneath the mass of wet golden hair. Golden eyes. He felt consumed in them for a long second and he felt like he couldn't look away. He remembered gold. He remembered seeing them before.

Suddenly a roaring pain ignited in Edward's arm as the shark managed to bite a hold on it in his trance. Edward screamed at the human to get away even though he knew it was in vain. His voice came out gargled and scratchy from the years of sea water contorting its sound. He couldn't speak above the water's surface. The human didn't budge until the water started to turn red from his bleeding arm then he seemed to get the idea. In fright the human sped off towards shore as Edward was able to pry the shark's jaws off of his arm. However the instant it let go, the shark just took another hold on his shoulder, biting even deeper than before. Edward screamed as he clawed at the shark, pushing it off of him. It spat him out and whipped around its tail at him to abandon the fight. It knocked him in the chest and Edward felt his head slam back into the metal of the buoy. His body slipped below the blood stained water as he sank towards the bottom of the shallows. Black clouds of blood trailed behind him as he felt his mind spin and roar around him. The last thing he felt was his back hitting the sea floor and watching the dim light of the sun glistening through the water fade to nothing.

….

Alphonse scrambled back onto the shore, his breath high in his throat as he gulped the air greedily. He spun around in the sand, his legs shaking so terribly he thought that he might just have fallen over. That was a shark. That was a shark! And a merman. He didn't know which to be more scared of. The fighting in the water was just a spinning of tails and splashing of scales and he was absolutely terrified. He felt so close to death he could barely keep his head above the water. Until he saw the man however. The merman struggled with the beast with golden eyes latched upon him. Alphonse couldn't help but see the shock in the creature's face as they stared at each other. He didn't know if it was fear or curiosity. But then he saw the blood. It was so much blood. It drenched the water and turned it black and red staining it. Alphonse swam away as he heard the threatening growls from the merman yelling at him. He didn't know what it was saying he didn't know if it was violent or going to attack him however he wasn't going to find out. Alphonse swam as fast as he could towards the shore, wishing everything in the world that he didn't go in. He should have just followed his father's warning for once but he was just so angry he needed to get out. He had ran away from his guards, he had run away from his castle just to clear his head by the seashore. Alphonse wanted to swim but he shouldn't have gone out into the water. He should have listened to his father.

However as Alphonse stared out into the sea which once held the torment of two predators fighting over him, it was now silent. The waters crashed to the shore like they had always did, unbroken and without a sound. The only difference was the large stain of blood lingering near the buoy where he had been swimming just moments before. Blood. It was a horrible sight and he couldn't stand it but it had him wondering if it could have been his own filling the ocean if the merman hadn't intervened. Alphonse shook his head, his trembling body getting the better of him as he collapsed by the shoreline, the sunlight warming his body gently. Sand stuck to his wet body and scratched his skin as he ran his hands shakily through his hair trying to calm himself down. It was a merperson who killed his brother surely it was after him, but it wasn't like the shark had any other reason to be there than to have an afternoon snack. Alphonse was once not afraid of the ocean. Just moments ago he had been free in his mind and free in his thoughts with nothing of the ocean to haunt him. But now, the fear of the ocean had been set in him, but he couldn't determine what to be scared of.

…..

Edward's eyes flickered open and he saw that the sunlight had faded from the sea's waters. The dim moonlight replaced it, hardly reaching even the shallow depth where he laid. He groaned as he sat up a bit and tried to remember what happened. Oh yeah, he fought a shark. Edward didn't know what came over him. No one he knew even thought about fighting a shark before let alone coming between it and its' meal. Edward just didn't want that human to get bitten. Instead, he ended up scaring the human off and getting himself bitten. He cursed himself for being so stupid. He should have let the shark eat him. Maybe that would have taught the human not to swim in such deep waters. But then again, there probably wouldn't have been enough of him left to teach a lesson to.

Suddenly Edward remembered the golden eyes of the human he saved staring back at him. They were large, frightened, and yet, they held a confidence that Edward couldn't quite remember where he saw it before. It was such a long time ago, nearly fifteen years since he saw anything above the surface. He knew that he was slowly forgetting what he once was, just like the many merfolk before him.

Edward winced as he felt his shoulder. The wound was still raw and Edward could still see wisps of blood being taken away by the soft current. He could see where the hundreds of teeth from the shark sank in. It wasn't good. He needed to get back to the village and get it taken care of or else he knew it might just be infected. If that happened it wouldn't have mattered if the shark took his entire arm or not.

He groaned as he struggled to get up from the floor of the sea but as he did he smacked his head off of something hard. He yelped and clutched his head, trying to massage the pain away. What was that? He tiredly opened his eyes to see metal wiring surrounding him, the metal glistening ever so dimly in the moonlight. The heart in his chest seemed to freeze over as he looked about him. Metal wiring surrounded him and trapped him along with a few other large fish that got caught in its steel tomb. He was on the inside of a cage. Edward desperately pulled on the wiring wanting to break it. He tried the openings on the tops and sides put they wouldn't budge. They were only made for one direction, in. He was stuck.

He felt his chest tighten as fear struck him. He was caught. He was finally caught but how? He desperately looked up to the surface of the waters where he saw the buoy float, its muffled bell ringing as the waters rocked it back and forth. He fell in. When he hit his head, he fell into the cage trap. Edward gripped his hair as he tried to calm himself down but nothing would work. He was dead, surface bound. If the shark bite didn't kill him, he was sure the humans would. He didn't cut the rope. He would be hauled straight up the next time they checked the trap. His friends wouldn't come looking for him. They probably didn't know where he was. Though they knew he checked traps he was usually out late, they wouldn't know he was missing until the morning and then they would have to search their entire territory for him. It would be too late. The humans would sure have come by then. Edward was as good as gone.

The sinking feeling in his chest reached rock bottom and Edward stopped fighting the metal cage around him. He sank to the bottom, desperately wanting to find some form of company. His life couldn't end there. It just couldn't, yet he knew that it was. He shouldn't have hung around so many cages, he should have just left them where they lied and hope that no one swam into them. He shouldn't have saved that boy from the shark. He should have just let him get bitten. Now he was trapped in a metal cage he was trying to save everyone from, now he was bitten by a shark he was trying to save the human from, now he was alone on the ocean floor with no one around to hear him. Edward put his head in his hands and shook his head. Merpeople were too prideful to cry. But right then, Edward wasn't thinking of what it was like to be a merfolk. He was remembering what it was like to be human.

….


	2. Human

_**A Not So Little Fish**_

Chapter Two

Human

Edward crossed his arms across his chest as he stared down at the harbor. The large boat, "Fullmetal", was being prepared for departure with some of the finest crew picked from the Royal Navy by General Edison himself. He had been planning this trip for ages and now his father had finally accepted. He was going to Xing.

Amestris was a superpower. It's navy was strong and its army even stronger. It was a strong country that Edward was very proud to be a heir of. Though he didn't like quite how his father was running things, he would admit only to himself, that he was doing quite a mighty fine job at it. Now it was soon coming to his turn. Edward had turned 16 and his coronation was supposed to be yesterday. He was going to take his father's place as king however he asked his father to postpone it after his trip to Xing to full fill the peace treaty that they had negotiated. If they managed to make a bond between Xing and Amestris they just stood that much more of a chance against the invading forces of Drachma. Though Drachma wasn't a strong country in naval power it wasn't one to be trifled with either. Edward didn't want to go to Xing with all of the worries about becoming the new King. He wanted to make the treaty without the bothersome troubles of kinghood and focus on the important matters at hand. Not only that, but Edward didn't really want to be king. He was proud of the nation, he was proud of his family's work, but he just would have rathered help people without all of the politics behind it. If he could continue to make the country stronger without worrying about what the public opinion was of him, he would have been the happiest man alive.

But he wasn't the happiest man alive. Yet luckily his father had agreed to his trip and postponed his coronation until after he returned from overseas. For now, Edward couldn't have been happier.

"Are you ready my dear?" He heard the soft voice of his mother behind him. She walked out of the castle, a soft little bundle in her arms. It cried out to her as little arms raised in the air wanting something that it couldn't elaborate yet. She looked weak and tired as if the little baby was too heavy for her to even carry. After all, she just had it a few days ago. Edward rushed over to her and took her arm as if worried that she would fall over. He knew she was a strong woman but he didn't want her to test her waters and be proven wrong.

"You should be resting. It isn't every week you give birth, Mother," Edward scolded her as he lead her to one of the fine chairs outside in the front garden of the castle. She loved flowers and she wanted anything to be by them instead of sitting inside the stone walls all day. She chuckled at him and waved him away tiredly as she took a seat.

"After you I was up and running the whole country when your father was away in war between Arego. I guess little Alphonse just took a bit more out of me than you did," she laughed as she cradled the little baby. Edward smiled and bent down to look at his little baby brother. Golden eyes stared at him tiredly as the baby sucked its one thumb, his other arm still outstretched towards the sky. Edward let the little baby take a hold of his finger and it held on strongly, as if it didn't want to let go.

"Well I am sure he's going to grow up a bit while I am gone," Edward said lightly as his mother offered him his brother to hold. He took the little baby lightly in his arms and cradled it happily. He was so excited that he was a big brother. There was nothing in this world that he had wanted more than that. Now his own little brother, Alphonse stared up at him, a soft smile forming on his lips which were still clenched around his thumb.

"It is only a few months Edward, you are bound to be back by your brother's first birthday."

"I hope so," he beamed back at his mother. Edward heard footsteps come down from the castle and he looked up from cradling his brother to see his father walk down the steps with the usual guards around him. Edward didn't get much time to spend with his father with him running the nation and often being swarmed by an entourage of armed men, but he nonetheless cared for him even then. King Hohenheim came to see him off.

"Come on Edward, I don't want you to be late," Hohenheim cheered as he motioned for him to follow. Edward nodded his head as he gently handed his brother back into his mother's arms and gave her a light kiss on the cheek.

"I will be back soon mother, don't worry," Edward told her.

"Don't worry dear, I will be waiting for you here." Edward hurried across the grass towards his father and took up pace towards him down to the docks. The man, though royalty, wore simple clothes just like he. The man often was working on his own studies if not the nation's welfare and he said that complex work called for not so complex clothes. Edward admittedly liked that idea not because it was from a wise old man but because he didn't see sense in spending so much on clothes when they just got in the way of what you were doing. The two of them walked down towards the docks in silence, yet the conversation spoke for itself. Edward and his father didn't talk a lot and they didn't need to. Though they had conflicts in political standpoints they had mutual respect for each other everywhere else. Only when Edward reached the bottom of the hill where his ship was waiting for him did his father stop him for a fairwell.

"Edward, I know you don't want to be king-"

"Dad, I will if I must," Edward told him, not wanting to get into their little father son argument again.

"I know. You will have to but while you are in Xing, please enjoy yourself while you can. We all get old, it is just when we choose to. Being King doesn't make you old."

"It surely made you old," Edward grumbled underneath his breath just for his father to tussle his hair in annoyance. Edward groaned and swatted him away, trying to fix his hair himself.

"Edward, just stay safe and do what you set out to do. I am proud of you," Hohenheim smiled. Edward felt his chest tighten as he smiled up at his father. That was the first time he ever called him that. Edward felt his father's arms wrap around him and pull him into a quick hug, he easily returning it. The bell of the boat rang off signaling departure and the end of their farewells. Edward pulled away from his father and started off down the docks towards his ship.

"Don't mess with the merpeople Edward!" Hohenheim called out to him as he stepped on the boat.

"Don't be superstitious dad! Everything will be alright!"

….

It had been a few long days sailing on the sea towards Xing. Edward had fairly good sea legs by then but he could tell that some of his crew were fairing far worse than he was and he had to question why they were in the Royal Navy at all. He stumbled across the deck that evening, easily dodging the sailors who were tossing rope about in the lantern light and raced himself to the bow of the boat to look down at the waves crashing against the haul. At the speed they were going at it felt like they would reach Xing in no time even though he knew that it would take several more weeks before they even saw land, let alone get to the capitol of the foreign country. Edward sighed as he stared up at the stars above them. Their navigator was setting course due east and he knew they were in the right direction. He had studied the stars for a long time not because he wanted to know them but just because he wondered where they went. He never learned that of course but the knowledge he did gain just let him wonder more. Edward sucked in a huge breath and let it out, the salty air burning his lungs with a sweetness he couldn't deny.

As his eyes settled on the horizon however, Edward frowned as he spotted the sight of a ship approaching them. Their path to Xing should have been clear as the Amestrian barricades should have sent any trading ships on another course towards the ports. The ship was small and approaching fast and the longer Edward stared at it, the longer he didn't like what fortunes should come with it. Suddenly Edward heard the bundling of fabric and looked up at the sails of the ship to see men folding them up to deny the ship the wind's graceful speed. They were slowing down. Why were they slowing down. As Edward looked out to the other ship he saw it doing the same. Edward stumbled back towards the Quarter deck where the General was steering the boat. He climbed the stairs two at a time and met the man at the top, staring dead eyed at the new approaching ship.

"General Raven, why are we slowing down?" Edward asked him as he saw the third and final sale get folded up, their speed having been diminished to barely drifting across the ocean.

"Oh you are awake young prince, I wasn't expecting you to be up this late in the evening."

"I couldn't sleep. Why are we stopping? I thought we were on a straight course to Xing," Edward rephrased not liking that the General was acting so casually about this.

"We had orders from your father to transfer ships part way. He was afraid of Drachman spies attacking and stopping our plan for a treaty-"

"This was my trip, he put all orders to me. I made sure that the crew would have enough equipment for a straight trip," Edward said as he looked back out towards the ship they were approaching. He didn't like it. Never before did he sea a ship of that structure in his Royal Navy nor in Xing's. He had studied the ships of the nations and none of them were familiar to it. As he looked closer he noticed that the ship wasn't even flying a flag. That could only mean one thing.

"That's not our ship," Edward exclaimed. "Those are pirates. General we need to pick up the sails again. Prepare evasive action-"

"I am afraid not, my prince," the cool voice of the General came out. Edward froze as the man's voice seemed to chill him to his very bones. "See, this isn't your ship anymore. It never was. We aren't going to Xing."

"But-" Edward staggered as he tried to back up but he suddenly felt rough arms wrap themselves around his shoulders as two men grabbed him from behind. He struggled to fight them off but he knew that they had trained their navy right and there was no way that one untrained prince could fight off two navy soldiers. Yet he struggled anyways.

"What's going on, General?" Edward demanded from him as the arms from the guards tightened around him. "What are you planning on doing? We are making a peace treaty, nothing more!"

"Yes Prince, but there have been some arguments from unnamed parties about this. And if you make this treaty there wouldn't be a good benefit on the trade as there used to be. It wouldn't be as… cheap, I guess you could say."

"Pirates?! You made dealings with Pirates?! You traitor. They would stab you in the back before you can even go through with this!"

"Well see, we made a trade. We would be able to tax their product as long as I divert naval ships from their coarse. As long as they are able to sail, we are able to raise revenue. It is quite simple if you ask me."

"You idiot!" Edward yelled as the ships pulled up to each other and the gangway was laid down for the pirates to board. There were several uproars from the crew and Edward heard metal clashing and breif gunfire before they were all silenced. It was a blood bath and obviously the whole crew of the Fullmetal wasn't agreeing with the change in plans, but now they were. Edward struggled as the men ignored his curses and carried him back down to the main deck where the new arrivals were waiting for him. He saw the blood of some of his crew members spread out and soak the floorboards as dead bodies were slumped over where they fell. A large mass of ugly looking strangers, each with a hungered thirst in their eyes stared back at him, waiting for the plan to come to a finish. General Raven glided smoothly across the deck towards who seemed to be the commander of the other ship. Edward kicked and pulled trying to get the men behind him to let go but it was no use. Even if he did get out of their grasp what then? Face a hoard of angered pirates with nothing but his bare hands? Edward looked around and he felt himself begin to panic as the dead bodies around him seemed to become more prominent in his mind. He was going to die.

"If you kill me you are going to have the Royal navy on your tails for the rest of your lives," Edward argued but the General just laughed and turned around upon hearing this.

"What are you talking about boy, I got the entire navy in my back pocket. They will do nothing without my order."

"Hohenheim's the King he would be able to override your orders and send them out yourself. Once you return back they will all know what happened-"

"And who will tell them? Your crew? The only people that they would be talking to is Davy Jones and you are soon going to join them," he gruff voice of the pirate captain called out. A roar of laughter raised in the crowd and Edward felt the dread wash over him as he looked around.

"And as for your father, young prince. You were coronated. Though it takes a few days for the power to be officially handed down, you will become King before we even reach the Amestrian shores again. Your father will not be in power and the heir will be dead," Raven stated. Edward frowned as he heard him say this. The man still thought he was coronated. Edward wanted the ceremony to be private so the news hadn't gotten out that he postponed it. They thought that he was lined up to be King already. He opened his mouth to argue but he stopped. If he corrected them it wouldn't matter. They would still kill him and continue on with their assassination plot. If he told them it wasn't true they would return back home to kill off his father and possibly the next living heir, his brother. They would know and there would be nothing stopping them. He couldn't let them lay a hand on his brother. If he had been coronated Alphonse would no longer be the prince, but just the brother that got the pride of royalty but no manor. He couldn't do that. Not his brother. Not his baby brother. Edward closed his mouth and glared at the General, pure hatred in his eyes.

"If you are going to kill me, do it already. Bullet to the head, knife to the throat, I don't care. But you will never win. The Elric von Hohenheim family will still rule Amestris even when I am gone. You can count on that," he spat at him.

"A bullet to the head? How dramatic. No we aren't going to do that. Bodies wash ashore with time and if they find yours with a bullet in it they would know something was wrong. I think we have a better idea." Edward felt his arms roughly tugged back as rope started to wrap around his wrists, tightly cutting his skin. He fought against them but suddenly he felt some people pick up his legs roughly and and bind them the same. He struggled and managed to kick one in the face but they had him bound in no time. He was headed for the sea. The men carried him towards the edge of the ship and Edward fought as his life depended on it, knowing his last breath of air was coming closer and closer.

"Don't worry my prince, we will be sure to give you a wonderful funeral that no one will forget," General Raven sighed. Suddenly the arms let him got and Edward was sent plummeting into the cold waters of the sea, with his last breath of air trapped in his lungs. He tore at the ropes around his arms and legs but the air was slowly escaping him. He looked up towards the surface in desperation, his eyes burning from the salt water, but only saw the dim glimmering of moonlight trickling through the deep waters. It's light caught him in its embrace as he slowly felt the waters suffocate him to sleep.

…..

Edward stared up at the moon through the bars of the cage. He had always liked the night sky, but it came with so much pain he only dared look at it since he went under the water. Now as he stared up at the twinkling light rippling through the sea's currents he knew that it was the omen of the end. The sun was taken away with its last light and Edward was going to die the second time in his life underneath the moon's haunting glow. He wished that he could have lasted longer. He wished that he could have just seen the stars one last time and cursed the God's for their creation. He still never knew where they went.

The cage shuddered quickly and Edward jerked up as he looked around him. Oh no. It was too soon. The cage was slowly rising off of the sea floor and towards the surface of the ocean, towards the moon. Edward turned about, struggling even harder against the bars of the cage in an attempt to break free. The many fish that were caught with him were spinning about trying to do the same thing but it was hopeless. They were caught. The warm night air hit Edward's wet skin as sucked in huge breaths of it as he clung onto the cage uselessly. His tattered tail twitched and flopped uselessly in the cage along with the fish he knew that he couldn't move unless he was in the water. The air stung the wounds on his shoulder and it burned with the salt mixed in the water. However, through the pain, through the fear, Edward's eyes were caught onto the brilliant lights of the sky's millions of stars. His breath was held in fearful wonder as he gazed up into them for the first time in his fifteen years under the sea, and possibly his last.


	3. A Catch

_**A Not So Little Fish**_

Chapter Three

A Catch

Roy sat under deck at one of the makeshift tables made from the barrels of fishbait they had brought on board. Hawkeye and her friends sat around him out of the way from the other sailors who looked a whole lot gruffer than they. He had been introduced before they even set sail and had been talking to the lot ever since. Jean Havoc was a smoker who sorted the catches that they hauled in from fish to crab to merfolk. Vato Falman was the logistics of the ship who kept tallies on their haul and quantity of supplies. He was rarely needed up on deck and it seemed his sea legs showed that. Kain Fuery was a navigator that popped in now and then. He was usually up on deck helping the General steer the boat. He was young but from what Roy managed to see of him he was bright. Finally there was Heymans Breda who was a hauler like him. He was giving him advise on what not to do and when. Though Roy was glad for all of the information, he was making him even more nervous than before.

"Now the instant we lower the cage to the deck someone will be there to open it. But we still can't let go of it. We would need to pull it off to the side before we run for cover as the wranglers step in or else we risk squishing our entire crew."

"Great," Roy muttered nervously as he remembered the General's description of the monsters of the deep.

"Don't worry, you got this," Jean said as he drew another breath from his cigarette.

"Yes, it's calculated that more people die in storms than by merpeople," Vato reassured him. "The last attack was over four years ago."

"So how do we know we didn't catch them all already?" Roy asked.

"They're out there, they are always out there," Heymans replied.

"We aren't trying to catch them all, Roy," Riza stated flatly. "Just the one that killed the King's son."

"This is bullshit," Roy huffed under his breath. But everyone else heard him and glared at him coldly. They were all former soldiers in the Royal Navy. They were all in different units but they all shared the same loyalty to the king as anyone else. Roy had that loyalty too but not in this. "We are ruining the economy and the wellbeing of the nation to go hunting for one merperson we probably would never find," Roy elaborated.

"You're just sore that the King kicked you out of your job."

"I was mighty good at it!"

"So were we. I don't like what this is doing for the country but if the King says that it would help protect the waters then who are we to challenge him. He has never let us astray before, maybe this is just rough waters," Breda suggested.

"Okay, fine, but how will we ever know if it is the one or not?"

"Easy, we look at its face," Jean answered him.

"What?" he asked even more confused.

"Well merpeople take on the face of the person they last killed. Didn't you know that?" Heyman's told him.

"Yeah they kill the good looking people and then copy their faces," Jean commented.

"So… we are trying to find a merperson who looks exactly like the dead Prince?" Roy asked. "What if they killed someone else after-"

"That's why we take them all into the king," Heymans answered.

"You know none of this is based on fact," Riza grumbled under her breath at the men sitting around her. "Merpeople just don't go about killing for no reason. Like Vato said before, there hasn't been a human killed by one of them in years-"

"Y-yes Riza but there have been several documented sightings and out of the ones that we did manage to haul in there have been sworn cases that they looked exactly like some of the citizens relatives that drowned at sea-" Vato elaborated but was cut short as the bell up on deck started to ring signalling the approach of a cage.

"Finally!" Everyone but Riza cheered as they got up from the makeshift table they were sitting at. Several hands slapped Roy's back as if they were trying to get him pumped for his first haul. However, Roy was a little more preoccupied at the moment as he stared at Riza. He had gotten several different opinions on the merpeople but hers seemed just not to fit. He wondered what was so different in her experience than others. He guessed that he would have to find out eventually when they hauled the cage to deck.

When Roy got to the deck and poked his head out into the fresh salty air of the sea he noticed that the sky had turned to night on their voyage. However with the stars shining and the moon beaming down on them it was still much brighter outside than it was in the dinky cabin they were in previously. Men were running around everywhere trying to grab equipment, rope, spears, he even saw Jean grab a bucket so that he could sort the catch. Roy was pushed and shoved out of the way until the large hand of Breda reached down and grabbed him by the collar.

"Come on Colonel there's no time to lose," he exclaimed with a voice of sheer excitement. He was dragged over to his position at one of the ropes which was connected to a pulley system. Breda was right behind him ready to pick up the rope in his bare hands. "Remember, thumbless grip unless you want to lose them!" Roy quickly picked up his portion of the rope, adrenaline more of fear than thrill raced through his blood as he waited for the next order. The air felt thick around him and he felt like he could barely breathe. He caught sight of Riza perched on the Quarter deck with her harpoon ready. Many of the other wranglers were gathered around in the far corners of the ship but none of them carried as deadly a weapon as she. Roy felt himself try to swallow the lump in his throat at the very thought of a merperson being in the cage that they were about to haul up.

A couple of men leaned over the side of the ship with large hooked rods to grab the rope of the cage and latch it onto their pulling mechanism. Suddenly a large whistle blew signaling that the deed was done and shouts started to rise to the sky.

"Pull!" Breda orders and Roy fumbled to heave his weight back on the heavy rope. It was thick in his hands and wet from the sea are but with the strength that he and the other haulers had he could feel the cage slowly rising the more rope they got on the deck. It was a large metallic box by the looks of it with three holes in it, two on the sides and one ontop where the fish can enter but not escape. As Roy pulled he got a better look at the rather large cage it was near the size and height of a billiards table in the pub that he would often visit after a long day on the naval yard when he had a paycheck to spend on drinks. A large pile of grey fish, most likely a type of schooling fish were piled high in the cage having all swam in together. As they pulled another set of ropes on the cage were used to guide the cage over the deck of the ship. As it was aligned over it Roy heard triumphant shouts from the crew that was gathered around it.

"We got one!" Heymans exclaimed behind him to Roy's surprise. On closer inspection he saw a rather torn up large red tailfin amongst the grey of the other fish flopping fish. Amongst that there was a rather pale arm poking out of the pile of scales. They caught one, they really caught one. Roy was almost stunned but he felt a slight kick from behind him as Breda scolded him. He snapped his attention back on his work as they lowered the cage so it hovered the deck by a few feet. Sailors jumped around it and then flipped the latch on the bottom opening it up and letting all of the contents spill out onto the deck. In that instant all hell broke loose.

The guide rope pulled the cage out of the way of the crew and they all dropped their ropes, Breda pulling him away from the fight. The wranglers, all but Riza, jumped into the pile with little concern for the other fish that they caught and the struggle began. Scales flashed as the large red tail bucked and kicked out trying to get the men off of it. It was so strong that unfortunate fish that were caught in the middle were flung about the ship, poor Jean having to chase after them with a bucket in an attempt not to lose them. A horrible noise rose up which sounded like a mix between a deep growl and a high pitched screech. It was one of the worse noises that Roy had ever heard. Suddenly one of the men tumbled over and the merfolk made a pitiful dash for the edge of the boat however not being in water, the large tail was useless to it and slowed it down. Roy caught sight of a young golden haired boy staring wide eyed in fear at the men on the boat coming after him. A red streak of blood trailed after the creature as Roy noticed that its arm was covered in it from what seemed to be a good sized wound on his shoulder. The men approached him and one yanked on the merman's arm as it fought to get free. The boy opened his mouth as if to scream or yell but that ungodly noise just came out of it as men seized the creature by its arms and chest, holding it still. It struggled and tried to pull its arms free but there were too many people on it. Roy caught sight of Riza lowering her aim of the harpoon with a rather relieved expression hanging over her. The fight was over.

Brave souls gathered around the catch as they all stared at it in awe. The large red tail of the merman kicked and lashed out as the boy tried to get away. Roy was rather entranced by the utter look of fear in the creature's eyes as they got closer to it. Roy saw a flicker of gold in them and he gasped as he took an ever so slight step back to get a full picture of what they had just hauled in. Whispers started up amongst the crowd as they all took in the sight of their new catch.

"Oh my god," he heard Jean say under his breath. "You know what this means." Breda just nodded his head. For once Roy was not lost in their broken conversation. He knew exactly what they were talking about. This was it. His first haul was probably his last for this merperson was the spitting image of the King's dead son, Edward Elric van Hohenheim. They caught it.

Huge thunderous footsteps came down across the deck and everyone cleared out a way for the Captain to get through. Raven's eyes seemed to widen as he saw the merman before him, struggling to get free. It was a face that no one has seen in over fifteen years but it seemed to haunt Raven more than the rest of them.

"By god there you are," the man said in utter astoundment. At the sound of his voice the merman seemed to freeze as it looked up at the man now standing before it. The fear in the merman's eyes in Roy's amazement grew so quickly to anger that several of the men had to step away from how wildly the creature's tail started to whip. The growls came out in horrible shrieks more than they ever did before. The merman was furious. It lunged for the Captain against the arms that held him down and for a second Roy almost thought that it was going to break fury in its eyes burned like molten gold and seemed to strike Roy's very being with fear of its anger. However Raven wasn't ever so slightly moved. With a rather dull smirk, he turned around to the crowd of sailors.

"Well my men, it seems like we finally done it. We caught the merman we had been hunting all of these years!" Cheers ran up amongst the crowd and Roy felt drowned in the sudden hysteria. "We are the ones who get to deliver it personally to the King's doorstep. Be prepared to eat well when we get back to the mainland." The sailors cheered and cried as the Captain walked out and back towards his cabin, a large thick tank replacing where he was once standing. Shouts rose up from the crowd commanding to get the creature into the vessel. Men struggled with the tail as the merman fought against their hold and struck out at them. They dropped the creature into the clean dry tank and it hit the bottom with a thunk. Blood smeared the glass where the creature's shoulder touched and it fought to quickly get up, but as the last of its tail was shoved into the tank, the thick glass lid was put in place. Roy almost for a split second imagined it to look like a coffin instead of a fish tank. The men locked the lid on tight and buckets of water gathered up from the sea that they were sailing in were poured over top of it. The water sank down through the holes in the lid and gradually filled the tank that the merman was fighting so hard to get out of. The water in the tank was lightly tinted with the creature blood as the water washed over its injured shoulder. It was an ungodly sight. The red tail that hung in the tank looked like it was made of blood itself as the tainted water rushed over it. When it became only half full, enough to keep the merman's tail and skin wet, they roughly pulled the confinement along with the creature in it towards the entrance to the deck below. It struggled and banged on the thick glass of the walls but it could not break it. It seemed to know that, or there was a flicker of defeat in the golden eyes of the beast.

When it disappeared below deck Roy turned to see that nearly everyone else had dispersed. Breda had disappeared and Jean and Vato had to return to the jobs that they had with sorting and counting the fish that was brought in along with the merman. It looked like quite a boring job and Roy was glad that he didn't have to be part of it. However he felt a rough hand on the back of his collar as someone grabbed it.

"Come on newby, you are going to be taking first watch-" one of the unnamed sailors ordered him. He had foul breath as if he didn't brush his teeth even though they were pearly white as ever. Roy was sure that they were all fake.

"First watch of what?" Roy asked him as he roughly tore the man's hand off of his collar but others seemed to be gathering around him.

"Of the fish of course," another replied. "You don't think we keep a dangerous beast like that on our boat without someone watching it."

"The one time we didn't do that it killed two men when it managed to escape."

"Now with a guard we are at least able to hear their screams and keep the death count to one," the man smiled. Roy frowned as the men looked down at him like he was fishbait. If he was going to be getting so near to that creature he bet he was going to be. However, Roy stood his ground, knowing that they were just going to poke at him and try to rustle a fight out of him, either that or wait for him to wet his pants. But that was never going to happen.

"Fine, I will take first watch," Roy replied gruffly, turning the cruel smiles of the men upside down. "It isn't like I have anything better to do," he muttered. In all reality that was true. He didn't really want to spend the night with the crew below deck if it meant being in close quarters with this group of men. He would have rather sat and watched a stupid caged fish for a while. Even if it did get out, it was a fish out of water injured at that. It wouldn't get far. The men gruffly let go of him and gave him a shove towards the stairs that led below deck.

"Better get going then," they grumbled upsettedly without any spark to their voice as they all returned to their own work that they had neglected. Roy huffed as he straightened out his shirt and marched towards where the tank had disappeared to. He was about to head down below deck and out of the night when another hand grabbed him once again by the shirt. Roy angrily shoved it off of him before he even knew who it was.

"Why does everyone like to grab me!" He exclaimed as he turned around to see Riza standing beside him with a rather unamused expression on her face. Roy closed his mouth as soon as he realised it was her. "Sorry," he muttered.

"Don't worry about it," she replied. "However, you do know that no one is going to relieve you from your shift, not after catching this one-"

"Wh-what? Why?" Roy demanded.

"Because they're all probably going to get dreadfully drunk and no one wants to miss dinner," she told him. "I will bring you something if I can get it."

"Thanks," Roy sighed as he rubbed the back of his neck tiredly. His hands were raw from pulling the rope and pressing them against his cold neck soothed them ever so slightly.

"So how was your first haul?" Riza asked as they headed down below together.

"Horrible."

….

Edward twisted around in the small confinement that he was placed in. The red tinted water sloshed around him with every movement reminding him what state his shoulder was in, but he kept on fighting. He hit and banged on the glass walls of the cage with his fists, his hips, and even his tail yet no matter what he did it wouldn't budge. Even if he did get out he didn't know what he would do then. It would have been a long trek to the top of the ship where he could potentially drop back into the sea. If he could even carry himself that far the sailors on the ship would likely see him and catch him again. Yet as he remembered that bastard's face he couldn't help but try and hit the glass harder. That was the last person he wanted to see. He was the last person he wanted to be in the hands of; General Raven. The more Edward thought about him the angrier he got. He cursed his existence as he struggled to fight for the diminishing hope for freedom he had left. It had been fifteen years since he last saw that bastard's face and since he was dropped into the ocean to drown. He didn't know what had happened to the aftermath. He didn't know if his brother was in his clutches or not, if his father was even still in power. But now that bastard had him back.

One thing that humans didn't know, or atleast, Edward didn't know before it happened to him, was that people don't drown at sea. Instead, they just learn to breathe water. Edward didn't know how it happened but one minute he was dead, and the next minute he was breathing again with a tail grown from his tied up legs. He was alive, but he didn't know if that was a good thing, not anymore. He couldn't tell his family he was alive, he couldn't go back on land. He was sea bound and unable to leave by his own will. He lived in a completely different world from the rest yet the hatred of his death still lived in him, in his eyes. Merpeople weren't anything but the deaths that created them. Though they formed families under the water in the adoption of other lost souls in the sea, they held the entirety of their former lives in haunted visions in their eyes. Merpeople would often share these stories with others so that they wouldn't have to live through them alone. But it was never the same. They were dead, and that was a fact, and they could never go back. Some Merpeople chose to forget their other lives because it pained them too much with what they lost, but other just forget in time as the years drag on. Whether it was God's joke or gift to give them a second life in a different form, Edward didn't know, but now his two lives were running together as he was captured by the exact man who had killed him in the first place.

"You know it is pointless," a voice suddenly rang out through the little dark room his tank was set in below deck. Edward froze suddenly, as he looked up and around through the dim lighting of the room to see a rather dark haired man approach his tank from around the back of some storage boxes. The man wore a wrinkled and dirty white shirt and some long navy pants, some he remembered the Royal Navy wearing long ago. The man collapsed down on a crate across from his tank and crossed his legs tiredly, exhaustion seeming to grow in him. "There is no way you are going to break out of there. It's pointless to fight," the man muttered seemingly to himself. Edward slowly lowered his hands from the glass and nodded his head in acceptance to the fact which he had been trying to deny. There was no escape for him. He was caught.

Edward was terrified at the thought of what these humans would do with him. He didn't know what happened with the other merpeople that were taken just that they never returned. He thought up all of these unimaginable things before he had to force himself to stop. Like the man had said before, it was pointless to struggle. Edward would occasionally flick his tail when he felt his scales dry out and become itchy. Having only a half tank of bloody water meant that he couldn't swim and that he wasn't fully submerged. He had to constantly roll over every now and then to make sure that he wouldn't dry out like a fish out of water. He chuckled lightly at that analogy as it was perfectly true, causing the man to glance at him curiously from where he was perched on the crate. He seemed just as bored as he was.

"What are you laughing about?" The man asked him but Edward glared at him and didn't answer, because he couldn't. His voice was just a jumble of scratchy growls out of water. He knew that he couldn't really have a conversation with a human if he wanted to. The sound of his voice was animalistic and might as well have frightened the man away. Instead Edward just flicked his tail again.

After a while Edward watched him for a little bit and curiously examined the man. He was young, younger than he was by maybe a couple years. Edward still looked sixteen from when he was drowned in the sea but that was fifteen years ago. If he was still alive he would be thirty one and his baby brother he could only imagine would be fifteen. He remembered leaving on that day fearing that his brother would grow up without him. It seems like he didn't have a choice in the matter. He could only imagine what he looked like now, he could only imagine that he was still alive. A pain grew in Edward's chest as he thought about it. He tried so hard over the past years to try and to forget about it. He almost drove himself mad thinking about his brother when he had first taken to the sea. Fear and regret followed him at the mere thought of it. If his baby brother was dead, if he was killed because of General Raven's treachery in the navy, Edward didn't think he could imagine anything that terrible. However that just made him wonder. General Raven was a high official in the Royal Navy. If he was still there, why would he be fishing for merpeople on a boat? Edward looked at the man across from him again and remembered that his attire, atleast what was left of it, seemed to be left over from the Royal Navy. What had happened? Why were they fishing them? The man looked beaten and tired, even slightly thin for that matter. Looking at that poor excuse for a soldier Edward had to question what had happen to the state of his country above water while he rested below.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" the man said suddenly from out of the blue. Edward looked up at him to see the man glaring at him softly. He realised that he must have been staring at him a bit too long as he was remembering his brother. Edward frowned at him and turned his head away from him as he flicked his tail again, sloshing the red water around some more. It was his blood, Edward remembered as he looked down at his shoulder. The bite in his arm looked horrible as it was turning puffy and red. It was healing, he hoped, but he wasn't quite sure anymore. Edward lifted his left hand and gingerly poked one of the teeth marks in his shoulder but winced at the pain. No, he was sure that it wasn't healing anymore.

"You're hurt," the man stated the obvious and Edward just glared over his shoulder at the man before returning to where he was silently brooding, however the man didn't seem to want to let it go. He hopped off of his crate and walked over to him, crouching down beside the tank that trapped him there. The man studied his shoulder and Edward tried his best to hide it from him in the small space he had. He didn't understand the man. He was one of the crew that captured him. He helped put him in this tank. He was the one watching him to make sure he didn't escape. Why would he be worried about a bite that he had? Edward didn't want the man so close to him. Not when he was on the other side of the tank. When the man knelt down closer to the tank Edward smacked it as hard as he could, the shock of the punch giving the man enough of a fright to fall away from him. Edward grinned at the dumb look the man had.

"I suppose you think that is funny," he huffed angrily. The man kicked the tank in return sending the water in it sloshing around and Edward tumbling in its wake. He growled at the human but the man ignored him as he took back his perch on top of the crates, crossing his arms in defiance to Edward's antics. Edward returned to trying to break the lid off of the tank. He pushed and slapped it, knowing that it still wouldn' budge at all. He saw the latches on the side that held down the lid and he stuck his hand out of one of the holes in the lid to try and reach it. It was too small. He couldn't reach. The man beside him rolled his eyes as he watched his pitiful attempts to escape. He didn't know if he was tired of his racket or annoyed with him as a being but the man shook his head in disbelief.

"I told you, it's pointless."

…


	4. The Clock Shop

_**A Not So Little Fish**_

Chapter Four

The Clock Shop

Alphonse couldn't shake the fact that he had come face to face with a merperson. It had stricken fear into him beyond compare and he didn't know what to do about it. His father always feared him going towards the ocean because of this, because of what happened to his brother. Now Alphonse knew why. Those creatures were horrifyingly beautiful. Strong enough to take down a shark, with severed screeching cries, but a tail as shiny as blood rubies and golden eyes that shined through the deep. He knew those eyes. He knew them as well as he could just looking in a mirror. They were exactly like his.

He had spent the remainder of that day locked in his room trying to process his terrifying experience. He didn't know where this merman came from or why but he probably saved his life. Now Alphonse paced the corridor outside of his chambers and ran his hands through his short golden locks. The more he thought about it the more curious he got about merpeople. They seemed vicious but after what happened they surely couldn't be as bad as the stories say. Killing them even if it was for his brother, he didn't know how to accept that anymore or even if he should. Were they ever really beasts to begin with?

Alphonse glanced up to the large intricate portrait on the wall. They had pieces of artwork nearly everywhere they could fit in the castle to make it feel less cold in the stone fort and more homey. Some of them were painted by master artists, some of them were family portraits, and some of them were even made by him as he took to painting on his free time. This one in particular was a family portrait painted back when he was just a baby, when his mother and brother were still alive and with them. It was the only real portrait they had of everyone together. Apparently it was finished a few days after Edward left for Xing by the pure memory of the artist, Alex Louis the detail was the color of their skin to the glint in their eyes, it almost felt like the portrait was alive. It was one of the only things that helped Alphonse imagine what his brother would have been like. He was too young to remember him or even his mother for that matter. The Queen had died only a few weeks after the Prince by an unknown illness. She was weakened after his birth and fell ill after that. The portrait even showed the Queen's face a bit paler than the rest, and a bit crest fallen.

Alphonse glanced over the painting, taking in all of the detail. He couldn't ever grasp the concept of how much this single portrait told about their family. Yet as he observed the entire thing, his eyes hung over a single detail that was placed on the large canvas, the golden eyes of his brother. They shined with determination just above his quirky grin. There was a fire that didn't seem it could be dosed just like in his own, but just like somewhere else he had seen. The longer Alphonse looked at it he more he wanted to know.

Alphonse made up his mind to visit the book store in the town. It has been a while since he had actually spent time in the city rather than the castle and he knew he was long overdue for a trip. The palace had its own library, stocked with many books from around the world with many more topics than one could ever choose from but Alphonse actually rarely used it. His tutors all stalked the library shelves looking for lessons to teach him and if he went in there he would be sure to have a class with all of them. He always tried to avoid it the best he could and because of this he made trips to the store instead and made his own little library in his room from the books he had bought over the years. Now, with the topic he was looking for, he wouldn't dare step foot into the library, he needed to go to the store.

Dodging the castle guards so he wouldn't have to be escorted, Alphonse snuck through the castle gates and raced towards town where he knew that the bookstore was waiting for him right on the corner. It was a shabby little place but it was stacked high with so many books that the shelves couldn't even hold them all. It was the perfect place to get lost in for a while. He opened the door and a little bell rung signalling his entrance. He looked around but the shop seemed to be empty, the keeper being somewhere unbeknownst to him. Alphonse quickly scanned the shelves determined to find what he was looking for. It was difficult to find anything as there wasn't a particular order to any of them. He felt almost overwhelmed by them all.

"Sheska!" Alphonse called out knowing that the girl worked there nearly everyday of the week and nearly every hour at that. He didn't think that she slept at all let alone eat, she was so obsessed over reading the books they had for sale. When he didn't hear a reply, Alphonse searched for another location of the store and then called out again.

"Sheska! I need your help!" He said and suddenly got a muffled reply. It was a bit strange that the cooky girl didn't come to meet him. Even though it was difficult for her to put down any book, she would throw down the encyclopedia when royalty walked in. She was so nervous around him that she had fainted the first time he walked in. Over the years Alphonse had to try and tell her to try and relax. He even tried to go into the store in his more casual clothes, that he was wearing now for that purpose, which seemed to help a bit but she was still on edge most of the time he was there. But no matter the class difference and her anxiety around them, Alphonse became gradual friends with the storekeeper the more books he got.

The voice was coming from the back storage room and Alphonse curiously opened the door to see a large mess of books on the floor where they were being kept until there was more room in the actual store front to put them. As Alphonse walked in he heard the muffled sound get louder and he walked around trying to find where she was.

"Sheska, where are you?" He called out finally when he found that there appeared to be no one in the room.

"Here!" A sudden exclamation came to him and Alphonse looked down at the giant cascaded pile of books to realise that the noise was coming from within. In a leap of fright, Alphonse started to shovel through the books trying to get to his friend who was buried alive beneath them. The woman burst out of the heap as soon as she could gasping for air. She looked distressed as if she was just held at gunpoint.

"My Prince!" She yelped as she caught sight of Alphonse. She grabbed his arm and hugged it, thanking him repetitively for saving her with much formalities. Alphonse struggled to shove her off of him as they tumbled around in the pile of books.

"Sheska I need your help-"

"Anything Sir!" She exclaimed. Alphonse helped her up and out of the cascade of books. They stumbled out of the room and quickly closed the door behind them as if scared of more books falling on their heads. Alphonse allowed the woman to get her breath and organise herself before he continued. The fact that she was as organised as the store they were standing in with her frizzy hair and offset glasses meant that it didn't take that long.

"Sheska I can't seem to find the book I want in this mess."

"Not again sir! I am sorry that it isn't very organised I will try my best to clean it up for the next time you visit-"

"You said that the last time-"

"I-I just get distracted with all of the books!" She admitted nervously, her face very red in embarrassment. "I try but… they overwhelm me, sir."

"Please don't call me sir anymore," Alphonse told her. He said this probably three times every visit to the bookstore but it was the one thing she couldn't do. She was honestly trying. He saw her struggle a few times to leave it off but her attempts never succeeded. Sheska furiously nodded her head, unable to say anything in fear of calling him sir once more. Alphonse took a deep breath and looked at her very seriously.

"Sheska I need to ask you if you have any books on merpeople."

"Merpeople? Why would you want to have something on that?" She asked him curiously pushing up her glasses as she scurried through the shelves of books. She only glanced at the different stacks of books before diligently pulling out a series from various places in the store. She knew where everything was even though it had no actual form of organisation to it. Alphonse had trouble keeping up with her.

"I just… want to know more about them," he answered plainly as he didn't want to talk to her about what happened the other day. Alphonse actually was afraid to tell anyone. His father would surely reprimand him if he found out and only push for stricter laws around the waters.

"Well we got only a few books here about them but they don't really say much separately, however if you were to get all of them they would have decent material in them," she told him. "One of them details how merpeople actually breathe the air in the water while another explains how merpeople can't are very scientific overviews of the subject but still hold and explain merpeople's magical properties just how I would expect you to like-"

"Wait...Sheska, what did you just say?" Alphonse asked her, cutting her off from her rant about the books. The woman looked a little taken back as she put the pile of books down on the front counter and pushed up her glasses back up on her nose.

"Well, sir, f-from all of the books you got from here before, I noticed that you like science a bit more so I thought-"

"No before that. Merpeople can't reproduce?" He asked curiously and she just nodded her head.

"Y-yes sir. This one scientist named Tucker wrote several excerpts on the anatomy and function of merpeople. They can't reproduce amongst other things-"

"But.. how are there so many of them?" Alphonse asked her.

"I.. i never really thought about it. There are just so many books... I kind of get distracted-"

"Could I have the book with the excerpts in it?"

"W-well, sir, they are scattered throughout this entire series. You are going to have to get all of these books just for a few pages-"

"Isn't there a way I could just get the pages on merpeople and not all of the other stuff?" He begged her. Though he appreciated the books he got from the store he didn't need to haul several thick volumes back to the castle. Sheska scratched her chin for a little bit and then let out a huff as if she was debating something she didn't want to do.

"Well, sir… I could… make copies for you of the pages you need. It will take nearly half a day but-"

"Please Sheska that would be wonderful!" Alphonse exclaimed as he grabbed her by the shoulders and shook her in gratitude. "How much would it be, I would give anything-"

"I-I don't know s-sir… they are only a fraction of the books that I take them from and… I am afraid that I won't be able to do it today. I need to run to Garfiel's for my grandmother. She needed to get one of her antiques repaired and she can't pick it up with her being bed ridden with her broken hip," she told him. "Thank you again by the way for buying all of those geography books and maps. It really helped get her a good doctor sir. It was more than enough to get her a good healer."

"I am gld to hear that she is at least doing okay though," Alphonse said back a little disappointed that he wouldn't be able to get any books on the subject at all. He was just so curious as to the merman who he saw the other day that he needed to figure out what they were. He didn't think he could sleep with this continuously on his mind. The shopkeeper seemed to notice his upset and she got very flabbergasted seeing that she upset a Prince, the next heir for that matter. He had helped her on many situations financially, mostly because he wanted to buy so many books and she just needed more customers to help her along. It was his consumption of books that got her grandmother to a proper doctor. Ever since then she felt like she owed him something when in all reality, Alphonse just wanted books. She started stuttering to try and find a situation that would make him less disappointed but she couldn't seem to come up with anything.

"Uh.. uh sir.. I mean I could work quick on it and get it to you by tomorrow morning but I really need to run my errands-"

"What if I were to run your errands. Would you be able to be done with them by my return?"

"B-but Sir!"

"Please Sheska, I need this. Would you be able to do that?" Alphonse begged. The woman frowned but then slowly nodded her head. She didn't like the idea of a Prince doing her any favors it seemed too strange for her, and Alphonse knew it, but it wasn't the first time he was willing to do something for a friend.

"I-I will start on it right away. Hold on let me just give you some money, Sir to cover the-"

"Bye Sheska! Start writing! I want those pages when I get back!" Alphonse said quickly jetting out of the store before Sheska could even grab her wallet. As he closed the door he hear the flabbergasted cries of his friend behind him. He chuckled slightly as he started to stroll down the street away from the shop. He didn't want Sheska to have to pay for it. It was ridiculous that she couldn't even let him pay for the costs, but he guessed that the woman was just worried for his wallet.

Alphonse knew where Garfiel's was. Though it was quite a long ways from the bookstore when you passed it it wasn't very hard to miss. The sign was huge with brightly colored roses on it even though it was far from a flowershop. It was a mechanics. Alphonse had only been there a couple times since most of the errands for the castle were run by the servants or the workers. They often went there to repair some of the clocks or suits of armors that lined the halls. The only time Alphonse went into Garfiel's was because he went to go repair his brother's pocket watch.

His father didn't want to keep many things that reminded him of Edward. All of Edward's things were piled into his room to collect dust over the years. The only thing left were really the paintings of his brother which were all cleared from the King's chambers and corridors. Though the kind boiled over Edward's death Alphonse was rather upset that he didn't choose to remember him. He didn't know much of his brother and one day when he was twelve, he wanted to find out more. Alphonse had snuck into his brother's old chamber and rooted through his things in an attempt to find something he could think about. It was dark and dusty in there but he had managed to find several notable objects like a long list of writings, personal painting that he must have done with his tutor (most were strangely dark and gaudy), and even his pocket watch. Alphonse found that it had stopped ticking and had taken it down to Garfiel's for repair without his father's knowledge. In the end, Alphonse just returned it back to the desk drawer that he found it in to continue collecting dust just with a bit livelier tick to it.

Alphonse walked into Garfiel's mechanics. The walls were covered in an arrangement of gears and bolts most of which Alphonse didn't know had any purpose to other than to be a wall decoration. Though the walls were filled he was upset to find the storefront empty though he heard the tinkering of the clocks in the back as the owner must have been working on something. Alphonse walked to the front desk and hit the little bell on the counter to await someone's company. The tinkering slowly stopped as they heard the soft ringing noise swirl through the air. A person emerged from the back workshop and to Alphonse's amazement it wasn't the owner at all. Instead of being the tall strapping and rather fashionable man named Garfiel what Alphonse came face to face with was a blond girl no older than he was. A welding mask was flipped up on the top of her head and she was covered in grime yet brilliant blue eyes poked out beneath it all in absolute curiousity. She didn't say a word as she walked over to the counter and waited for him to say what he needed.

"Oh… um… Do you know where Garfiel is? I… came to pick up an order," Alphonse told her nervously as it seemed her eyes were looking straight through him. The woman shook her head and took out a piece of parchment on the desk and a pen. Quickly and rather neatly, she wrote down a sentence and passed it to him.

 _He isn't here. What order do you need to pick up?_ Alphonse read it over and then looked at her curiously.

"Can… you not talk?" He asked innocently and the woman shook her head with a frown and just tapped the paper aggravated as she wanted her question answered. Alphonse stuttered as he tried to answer her. "Oh, um, I need to pick up an order for Sheska. It apparently was her grandmother's?" He asked. The girl nodded her head as if she remembered exactly which one it was without even looking. She motioned for him to wait there as she leapt off towards the back room where all of the gadgets were stored. Alphonse waited patiently and tapped his fingers on the counter to no apparent rhythm and looked around the room. He sighed as he looked down at the parchment that the mechanic was writing on and looked at the words she had written. They looked scraggly and what was rather funny to him was that it looked like she had just learned to write. The woman returned with a rather huge cuckoo clock and Alphonse felt his stomach drop. Was this really what Sheska needed to pick up? He could barely imagine her lifting it let alone carrying it across town. In fact, _he_ could barely imagine lifting it himself even though the mechanic seemed to be doing just fine with it.

"Wow… that's… some clock," he muttered as he watched the woman set it down on the counter. The woman smirked silently at him knowing full well the pain he was going to be in. She reached for the tablet and Alphonse handed it to her. He watched her write with absolute curiousity and seeing that he was practically leaning over the parchment as she wrote the woman shoved him away to finish what she was going to say.

"You know… sign language might make it easier for you to talk… or morse code-" Alphonse said but the woman just stopped and looked at him like he had cacti sticking out of his ears. He subconsciously took a step away as the woman stared at him, getting very uncomfortable under the gaze of someone he just met when suddenly he heard a tapping on the counter.

 _You know morse code?_ She asked him as if it was a rare occasion to meet someone of the sort. Alphonse nodded his head and cleared his throat as if he wasn't just very intimidated by her.

"Y-yeah… I mean… this city is now nearly flooded with fishermen. They use it to talk over the ships to the shore. Why… why wouldn't I know it?" The woman suddenly blanked out and turned white as he finished. She tapped on the counter lightly as if she didn't have enough energy to tap just a bit harder.

 _Fishermen?_ She asked him. _I nearly forgot…_

"How… How could you really forget that?" Alphonse chuckled nervously. "The king has been driving us towards the sea for fifteen years-"

 _You aren't a fisherman are you?_ She asked him, her eyes holding a defensive look. She looked like she would have fought him if he said the wrong things. He didn't know where this suddenly came from.

"What? No. I-"

 _You look familiar._ She stared at him hard and Alphonse took a few steps back just for her to round the corner of the counter to close the distance he had made. It was as if she was staring into his soul. His eyes caught hers and for a split second he felt an overwhelming burden on his chest as his golden eyes locked onto her blue ones. He didn't know where this feeling was coming from. It felt like everything was cold and suffocating. To put it plainly it felt just sad.

"I-I am the Prince-" he s-stuttered, only able to free his eyes from hers when she closed her eyes in seeming disappointment. She walked back to the counter and leaned on it, massaging her temple as if a sudden headache came over her. Alphonse inched closer unsure of her at all. "Did… Did I remind you of someone?" He asked her cautiously. She simply nodded her head but left it at that. "Do you mind if I ask who?" She looked up at him and contemplated whether telling him or not but in the end she had relented and tapped out only two words.

 _Your Brother._


	5. Chapter 5

_**A Not So Little Fish**_

Chapter 5

The Colonel

Roy watched the merman turn about in its small tank. The water was stained a dark pink colour from the wound in the creature's shoulder. He wondered where it came from. It looked like a bite of some sort rather than a scrape it could have sustained on the boat. But he had learned not to worry about it. The merman was feisty and didn't like him getting near it at all. Roy questioned why he was even worried about the merperson. He knew that they were monsters, at least that was what everyone said. Roy had never met a merperson until then. He was on the sea often enough being in the navy. He fought in boundary skirmishes and lost many of his men and even some friends to the sea but never to a merfolk. Hughes, that bastard, always wanted to meet one. He was fascinated by them, kind of obsess as Roy would put it, like a kid dreaming of catching the tooth fairy. However, the North sea swallowed him up like half of his crew in an attack from Drachma before he could even see a flicker of their tails.

As Roy stared at the merman before him he knew that Hughes wouldn't have been disappointed. It was remarkable. Though the merman was beaten, its shoulder hurt and its tail tattered from years of wear, the scales of the merman's fin looked like individual rubies and its moved with a grace that Roy couldn't even begin to fathom. He wanted to get closer just to take in its entire worth however he knew he must have been crazy. From the stories that everyone was spewing about them he should have been wanting to walk away from it not closer. However no matter how he looked at the creature he couldn't dismiss it as just a ruthless beast. He didn't know if it was the fact that it appeared part human or that it looked just frightened and scared that made him all the more curious. The furious and frightened golden eyes of the dead prince glared at him with a fire Roy didn't dare fight. So instead of trying to run away, Roy just sat on the crates where he was and watched the merman flick its ruby tail and swish the dirty water around in its small coffin like confinement.

Roy got bored quickly on his watch and by a couple hours into his shift he knew that no one was coming to relieve him. He was going to be stuck down there the entire night with the creature. With nothing to preoccupy himself Roy made an attempt to strike up a conversation with the merman but he knew that it couldn't reply intelligently and even then he questioned if it could even understand him at all. Yet as he watched the merman move about, he just wanted to speak with it all the more.

"Mesmerizing aint it?" a sudden voice calmly said. Roy nearly jumped in his skin as he turned to see the Captain walk down the stairs and into the cargo bay. He quickly stood up on his feet going to attention but the man simply waved him off. He kept forgetting that they weren't in the military any more.

"Uh.. I guess so, sir," Roy mumbled as he sat back down on the crate he was previously perched on. Raven smiled shortly at him walked gracefully across the floor as if they weren't on a ship that was tossed with every wave. As the merman caught sight of him Roy saw that it noticeably recoiled, tensed.

"Yes, merpeople are very peculiar creatures," the Captain muttered absentmindedly as he stared into the tank holding the trapped merman. The monster looked almost scared when facing the Captain. "They look half human and yet… they're not. You can't communicate with them at all. They can't talk and they can't be understood. The only thing is…. Their eyes."

"Their what sir?" Roy asked curiously but the man didn't seem to hear him. It was then that he realised that the Captain wasn't talking to him but rather to himself as he examined the merman where it was trapped. He didn't think that the captain would care about their catch at all but it seemed like he was now obsessed over it. He was staring at the merman with such ferocity that Roy was actually scared to interrupt. Their eyes were interlocked for a long time and the only thing that could be heard in the room was the lapping waves of the ocean outside. The way that the merman matched the Captains stare with equal and even greater force was almost entrancing to Roy. The merman was scared, that was obvious to him, but it was so defiant towards the Captain it made him almost believe that they knew each other. Suddenly though without warning the merman's arm shot out through one of the holes in the tank and grabbed a hold of the Captain's collar who was standing too close for his own good. With a quick yank the merman slammed the man's head against the lid of the tank. Raven collapsed to the floor with a bloody nose and the creature gave a loud growl that almost sounded like laughter if the grin on its face was anything to go by.

"Sir!" Roy exclaimed as he shot up and ran towards Raven's aid, not too fast though. Raven groggily sat up with a groan and ignored his efforts to help him to his feet. He slowly took out a handkerchief and started to dab the blood off of his nose. The man didn't seem phased at all that he nearly got his head smashed in by a creature of the deep. In fact, Raven looked preoccupied with other thoughts than if his nose will ever look straight again. Staggering to his feet, the Captain swayed only a little with the rocking ship before gaining his balance. He took one last look at the monster and Roy caught something under the man's breath, yet again not meant for his ears.

"It really is you, you son of a bitch," the man muttered before he stumbled back towards the stairs. "Keep up the good work, Mustang. Just don't get too comfortable with your new friend. He isn't going to be around much longer," Raven called out over his shoulder before he disappeared from view, shuffling his way through the door. Even then, when the Captain had addressed him directly did he not think he was talking to him. Roy looked curiously back towards the merman who had dropped its smile in replace with a look of damnation. Golden eyes looked even more frightened than before, its life balancing in the hands of a few humans who wanted his skin. Yes, the Captain definitely wasn't talking to Roy.

…

Edward had turned his back to the man watching him, not wanting him to see him sulk in his own despair. Raven was after his hide and it seemed that even death couldn't have stopped the man's plans to end him. When the man looked into his eyes Edward let him see everything. He let him know exactly who he was in that silent exchange. Raven looked dissettled, almost afraid but that wasn't going to stop him from killing Edward once and for all. The worse was, the only thing Edward could do now was wait for the hammer to fall. He was as good as gone.

Edward swished the water again to keep his tail from drying out. He heard voices start to pick up from behind him. It was the sailor man, Mustang as he was called by the General, and one of his friends who seemingly brought him dinner. He tried his best to ignore their talk but the dull conversation seemed to sooth his fear and distract him from his closing fate. He pretended not to notice them, keeping his back turned towards them, but his ears were perked and listening intently.

"Amazing aren't they?" the woman's voice said quietly. Edward knew they were talking about him. Her comment both boosted his pride but also tore him down, making him feel like an exhibit.

"Beyond what I imagined. I never saw one before now," Mustang mumbled. "My one friend would have given anything to have seen one in person." It was muffled and Edward knew his mouth was full. The man must have been starving with the ferocity he ate with.

"I am guessing your friend is superstitious?"

"No, just curious," Roy chuckled. "I don't think he could do what we are doing. He was not the type of person to hurt even a fly. That didn't stop many other people from wanting to strangle him though. He talked about his wife and his daughter so much I think my ears fell off at some point."

"What's he doing now?" the woman asked after a soft laugh at the man's annoyance. There was a stifling silent and Edward knew that a note had been hit.

"He drowned in the Drachman border skirmish. He's dead," Mustang muttered.

"I am sorry," the woman told him sincerely.

"It's alright. If it wasn't for him I wouldn't have thought twice about these half human creatures. They were just a big myth to me before he started on about them."

"They are more human than you think." There was a light chuckle of disbelief that came from the man.

"I don't know if it could understand me let alone talk-"

"Have you ever thought it was actually you who couldn't understand them?" the woman challenged.

"No," Mustang muttered contemplatively. Edward rolled his eyes as he couldn't believe some people's ignorance. Of course he could understand them. Though he appeared as a monster, though he couldn't even talk he wasn't stupid. He could understand them. Edward flipped over to his other side and peered out across the room to where the two people were talking. Like the man, the woman was wearing the familiar blue pants. Edward wanted to question where they got them, but of course he didn't have the words to ask.

He caught sight of the tray of food that the man was eating out of and he felt his mouth start to water. He could smell it. Whatever it was his mouth started watering for it as he hadn't realised that he didn't eat in the last day. He moaned as his stomach started to churn and tentatively knocked on the glass of his confinement. He was done ignoring them. The man seemed to notice that he was now watching them and nudged the woman. They both turned to stare at him and he gestured with his hand for them to come over. The woman came over with little hesitation but the man seemed to be stunned in his place. When Hawkeye knelt by the tank her wide eyes stared in awe and some strange form of understanding that Edward couldn't quite place. He felt a strange curiosity rise in him as he stared at her in such close proximity. He knew she was dangerous, but… something told him she wasn't bad. She was holding a few pieces of bread in her hand, assumably from dinner. They looked a good day old but Edward felt his mouth start to water as he stared at it. He reached his hand out of one of the holes in the thick glass lid as he tried to reach for the flimsy piece of bread she was holding in her hand. His arm wasn't able to fit that far out of the crack so he knew that he wouldn't be able to snatch it from her. She was ever so slightly too far away. A small smile grew on her lips as she seemed to understand what he wanted and Edward felt slightly taunted by it. He growled at her angrily in his frustration but that only made the woman chuckle.

"Here," she said as she leaned in to hand him one of the pieces. Edward grabbed a hold of it, and pulled the bread back down into the tank with him. He faltered for a moment, in disbelief. She actually was giving it to him? She wasn't just tricking him? Edward looked back up at the two humans, looking them each over once. They appeared genuine which was something Edward never really had the luxury for. Seeing that he wasn't eating it, the woman urged him on. "It's just bread. It isn't like it's going to kill you," she smirked. Edward looked down at the food in his hand. It had turned slightly soggy from his wet hand but it still looked good. He took a bite of it and his eyes widened in shock. A smile formed on his lips as his stomach growled for more. He hadn't had human food in such a long time. It was amazing. Though it was just bread he missed the variance of flavor. In the ocean he only had fish but on land there was everything from grains to meats from all over the world. He couldn't imagine that something so simple could have made such a big impact on him.

"Not so bad is it?" she chuckled lightly. Edward shook his head as he reached his hand back out, begging for more even as he continued to eat what he had. Mustang looked absolutely amazed as he watched him eat it. His face was stricken with pure awe. The woman was about to reach for the second piece when Mustang held her back.

"Hold on," he said as he ran back to the crates where he left his own tray of food. Edward watched him return with it and he seemed to be looking at what he had. "Do you like jerky?" he offered the variety of what he had. Edward looked at him hesitantly and nodded his head. He wasn't quite sure of the man but soon he found a piece of the dried meat in his hand. He looked down at it and back at him before taking a bite. He closed his eyes and relished in the joy of the savory flavor. God, why did land food have to be so good? He hadn't had it in ages. He heard a deep chuckle and he opened his eyes to see the man looking down at him with dark black eyes. He seemed amazed at him as a being and Edward couldn't blame him. He knew that when he walked on land, the world of the merfolk was a myth. Seeing one was an oddity.

"This is amazing," the man breathed, his eyes lingering over his tail. Edward flicked it as he felt it become itchy from drying out. There wasn't enough water in the tank to keep it fully submerged. He could barely stretch out to his full length. The elaborate red lengths of fin flickered in the swishing water. Thinking that the man was staring for long enough Edward batted the tank wall with it, startling the man slightly. He grinned smugly at the man's fall up and Mustang just glowered at him. He hit the tank back in a small act of revenge and sent Edward spinning lightly in the waves of the water.

"Sir," Hawkeye reprimanded the man who just defiantly cross his arms.

"He started it," the man muttered under his breath. Edward opened his mouth to retort but closed it after the only thing that came out was a low snarling growl. His voice was ruined after years in the salty water. The two humans were slightly startled at the harsh noise, as was he. He covered his mouth and looked down away from them, angry that he couldn't even talk. Shaking his head for his stupidity in trying to talk to humans, the ones who were trying to kill him after all, he turned his back towards them once more. He scooted to the other side of the tank to get as far away from them as possible, not letting them in. Seeming to get the hint, he heard shuffling as the people stood up.

"Come on, we should give it space," he heard the woman mumble quietly. "They are planning to sail soon. We should be docked by morning. If there is breakfast I will bring you some."

"Thank you," the man muttered tiredly as he stood up too. "If you can sneak it... Bring some more bread for the fish."

"I am sure a prince was never called that before," Hawkeye replied wearing an obvious smile by the tone of her voice. Edward's eyes widened as he heard this. She called him a prince. Footsteps retreated as the woman left the cabin after a small salutations. She knew. She _knew_ who he was. Edward turned only slightly to see the man scratching his head by the door completely clueless, the fucking idiot.

….

Alphonse couldn't sleep once again. He had his journals and writings Sheska finished for him lying right on his dresser, his most recent one propped open between his pillow and the headboard of his bed. His tired eyes scanned the page for useful information on the creatures of the deep. He found little other than their anatomy and physiology. Apparently they couldn't reproduce, they resembled a vast array of different fish species, and they were noted to be ageless as there were accounts of some merpeople resembling past kings that were thought to have drowned in sea. However, that didn't mean they were immortal. The shops down by the docks were flooded with scales from mermaid tails that they caught in the sea. They were trophies in a way and very expensive. Alphonse always dreaded when they brought another merperson to the castle. Hohenheim seemed to drown in his rage and disgust and Alphonse knew that once a merperson went into the castle they weren't leaving. Even though he voiced his concerns, he knew that his father would never stop, that is until they had the one that killed his brother.

Alphonse sighed as he closed the book and set it back on the pile of writings that he had. As much information as they had, none of them were as interesting as what he heard in the clock shop that day.

He had stayed late in the clock shop as he talked to the new mechanic Winry through taps on the counter. She had known his brother, Alphonse didn't know how. He had barely known his own brother because he was only a few days old when Edward left for Xing. Winry looked no older than he was and yet she had stories of his brother. She told him how much he reminded her of him. She told him more than Hohenheim ever did. But most importantly, Winry had told him that Edward said that he loved his little brother.

" _Being an older brother was everything he ever wanted. You made that happen,"_ she had tapped out for him. Alphonse nearly felt his heart split in two. It felt like the more he knew about his brother, the more alive he was, however that just meant that the impact of his death would hit him harder. Alphonse questioned how Winry knew so much about his brother if she was no older than he was. It was rather peculiar in that instance that she kicked him out and closed the shop as he didn't realise it was already going on 8 o'clock and it was getting late. He learned no more about his brother, but he planned on running into town again in the morning. He needed to know.

The next morning Alphonse carried through with his plans. He quickly ate his breakfast in the privacy of his own chambers and snuck out of his bedroom window before anyone in the castle could think of checking up on him. He cascaded down the wall and escaped off of the castle grounds to head out into the town by himself. It was early in the morning and many of the villagers were running about to their own jobs, many of which were fishermen reluctantly setting sail on their boats. Alphonse ducked under loops of netting and made his way towards the clock shop he had spent so many hours in the previous day. The lights were still off but Alphonse could see the familiar young form outside of the door, unlocking it with an old set of keys. She looked tired, probably having a late night working on all of the gadgets in the shop. Alphonse guessed that he was probably to blame for distracting her for so long the other day.

"Winry!" Alphonse called out to her. The young woman turned her head at the sound of his voice, her ocean blue eyes growing wide. She turned as if to run but Alphonse quickly reached out and snagged her wrist. "Winry, please I just have a few questions," Alphonse begged her as he was confused at how scared she looked just looking at him. She shook her head and tried to pull away again. "Winry, please, I just want to know more about my brother."

 _"I can't"_ Winry tapped out on his wrist frantically.

"But why? I have never known anything about him. My father never talks about him and all I want to do is learn more. Please, only a few questions-" Alphonse asked her.

" _I just can't. It was a mistake talking to you-"_

"But… But-" Winry tried to remove his hand from her wrist but he held on tight like it was his lifelink. She was the only person who had information on his brother, who would actually tell him about what is going on. However she was a fish that didn't want to be caught. Desperate for him to release her, Winry took her knee and drove it into his stomach knocking the air out of him. Alphonse gasped as he felt his own grip falter as his lungs tried to recover from the shock. Winry pulled back as to not get grabbed again but as she turned to flee Alphonse found himself kicking his leg out and tripping her. He would have felt horrible previously for tripping a girl, not only that but an unarmed one, but she was the one who started it. Winry fell to the cobblestones and and let out a small cry as she hit the ground. However the sound that came out wasn't human. It was a shrill growl that sounded animalistic at best. Alphonse found himself taking a step back from the intensity. Winry immediately covered her mouth as she heard her own cry, her eyes wide in fear as she stared back at him, wondering what he would do. Alphonse didn't know either as he just stood there in shock. He had only heard that sound one place before. That was from the merman at the beach. Alphonse lifted his finger shakily and pointed it at her, still filled with awe and fear.

"You… You're…."

 _"Please no-"_ Winry tapped out on the cobblestones. She was trembling and Alphonse's eyes widened as he saw it. He looked around him and noticed a few people staring at them, wondering what was going on. After all it wasn't everyday a prince tripped over a young lady. Alphonse quickly bent down and grabbed the key ring where Winry had dropped it and opened the door to the shop. He held his hand out to her but she recoiled slightly as any attempt at niceties or light conversation like the day before was gone.

"Come on, it will be better if we talk off the street," he said. Winry's blue eyes darted around to see some of the people staring and she hesitantly took his hand. Alphonse lead her into the shop where she worked and closed the door. It was dim in there as the curtains were still drawn over the windows and Alphonse could have seen dust cascading through the air in the rays of light that were able to evade the curtains but he wasn't looking at that. He was looking at the mechanic he met all but yesterday.

Alphonse was curious as to the mystery behind merpeople. How did they exist? Why? What were they? Alphonse wanted all of these questions answered but now he was even more confused.

"How did you make that noise?" Alphonse asked her quietly. Winry wasn't looking at him, instead glaring at some far away spot on the floor of the shop. She was shivering as her muscles were tense. She was terrified but he didn't know if it was because of him, or because of what would happen. Alphonse thought she was just going to stay quiet but he soon heard the tapping of her answer on the counter of the store.

 _"That's my voice"_ she answered simply.

"I have only heard that noise before from a merman whom I met down by the beach the other evening. That was its voice. Are you…." Alphonse stumbled running his hands through his hair tiredly as he tried to grasp the idea of her, "Are you… a… mermaid?" There was no answer that time. Alphonse ran his hands down his face as he felt his legs collapse out from underneath him and he landed in a wooden chair placed near the counter for waiters. Silence in this context was confirmation of his accusations. He let out a huge breath of disbelief as his mind took a blow. With it, an endless stream of questions was released. "How do you breath below water? How do you exist? _How do you have feet?"_ he exclaimed in hysteria. Winry's blue eyes glared at him angrily at his frustration and Alphonse was consumed almost instantly in an overwhelming feeling of sadness which disappeared the instant she looked away. Alphonse's mind cleared and he shivered from the odd experience.

" _Aren't you afraid? Are you going to turn me in?"_ Winry tapped out on the table cautiously. Alphonse looked up confused.

"No! I don't want to turn you in! I am trying to stop these witch hunts!-"

 _"Why? Why, you of all people, would want to stop them? Everyone is afraid of us. They call us monsters. Why do you think differently?"_ Winry scolded him, oddly confused about his mindset. Alphonse was a little taken back.

"I… I didn't know what to think at first to be honest," Alphonse muttered, admitting his thoughts. "I wanted to stop the hunts because of what my father was doing to the nation. He has destroyed our economy and run Amestris into the ground just for this. However, I never really knew what I thought about mermaids. The only time I met one was a few days ago, on the beach. I was terrified. He was right next to me. I didn't know what to think. He saved me from a straying shark and… I think he got injured. I don't know what happened but… I know you aren't monsters."

"But now I am just confused!" Alphonse continued. "Are you the only one who can… walk on land? Where did you come from?" Winry looked away from him after he asked her this. She seemed to be contemplating his story. Eventually she got up and went back into the workshop. Alphonse thought she was leaving him but she no sooner left than returned with a pad of paper and a pencil. It seemed what she wanted to say was too long to tap out. Alphonse stayed quiet as he listened to her scratch words down on paper. As she wrote, Alphonse quietly lit the lamp on the desk for her to give her some light. It took her a while but Alphonse wasn't in much of a rush. So he waited patiently as she carefully considered every word. When the pencil was set down Alphonse looked up to see her contemplating whether or not to give it to him but eventually he found the paper getting set in his hand. She didn't look at him as he read her story.

"I washed ashore a few years ago…"

…..


End file.
